Fire-arch structure



' May 3,1927. 1,626,982

C. A. STRACHOTA FIRE ARCH STRUCTURE Filed April 17. 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 I @Z/ZWZZOW E; R3 C44 x 7 1 ham/42W 1 1,626,982 May 3 1927' c. A. STRACHOTA FIRE .ARCH STRUCTURE Filed April 17, 1922 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 I [Emmi I. E [bum/2 0w CA]. W l ilzlvflflfawzr 1,626,982 May c. A. STRACHOTA v FIRE ARCH STRUCTURE Filed April 1922 5 sheets-Sheet 3 May 3, 1927. 1,626,982

C. A. STRACHOTA FIRE ARCH STRUCTURE Filed April 17, 1922; 5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Patented May 3, 1927.

UNITED STATES 1,626,982 PATENT OFFICE.

CLARENCE A. STRACHOTA, OFST'. PAUL MINNESOTA, ASSIGNOR TO LIPTAK FIRE- lBBICK ARCH COMPANY, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

FIRE-ARCH STRUCTURE.

Application filed April 17, 1922. Serial No. 553,848.

My invention relates to fire arch structures for furnaces or commercial boilers and, while it is capable of more general application, is more particularly in the nature of an improvement on a type of fire arch structures Well known to the trade.

Generally stated, my invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of devices hereinafter described and defined in the claims. It is thoughtfthat the novelty involved in my invention will be more read ily understood after first having described in detail the preferred or commercial embodiment ofrmy invention as illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Referring to the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary perspective showing portions of the fire arch and'of the depending curtain Wall that is adjacent-to the stoker gate, some parts being broken away and some parts being removed;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary perspecti/ve of the depending curtain wall, the arch not being illustrated;

Fig. 3 is a vertical section taken on the line 33 of Fig. 2, some parts being removed;

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary transverse section on the line 44 of Fig. 1, some parts being removed;

Fig. 5 is a side elevation particularly showing in detail one of the curtain wall hanger brackets and the manner of supporting the same from transverse main beams;

Fig. 6 is a perspective showing one of the curtain wall hanger brackets, two sections of which are separated;

Fig. 7 is a perspective showing in detail one ofthe curtain wall supporting shelves or plates removed from the hanger brackets;

Fig. 8 is a vertical longitudinal section showing the inner end of the fire arch and illustrating the manner of supporting the superimposed apron wall independently of said arch;

Fig. 9 is a view corresponding to Fig. 8 but showing certain of the blocks of the arch removed from beneath the apron wall;

Fig. 10 is a perspective corresponding to Fig. 1 but illustrating a modified structure,

Fig. 11 is a fragmentary section taken approximately on the line 11-11 of Fig. 10; and

Fig. 12 is a perspective showing the detachable lower end section of the modified form of hanger bracket.

The drawings of this application show the invention incorporated with what is known as the Liptak double suspension fire arch disclosed and broadly claimed in Letters Patent of the United States #1326,- 752, issued to Michael Liptak of date December 30, 1919, but as already indicated, my invention is not limited to such' asso ciation or co-operation. This fire arch, as illustrated, may be briefly described as folows:

The customary masonry of the furnace is well understood and not here illustrated. The furnace arch, of course, occupies the usual position and spans the space between the sides of the furnace walls in front of and below the flues. The transverse main arch-supporting beams 13, 14 and 15 are preferably heavy eye-beams supported at their ends from the side walls of the furnace in a Well known manner. A multiplicity of laterally spaced supplemental beams 16, having flanged lower edges, are

hung from the beams 13 and 14. At their front or outer ends, said beams 16 are hung froin the flanges of the beam 13 by head brackets 17 having inturned lugs that overlap the lowerflanges of said beam 13. At their inner ends, the supplemental beams 16 are provided with short longitudinal top flanges 18 that rest on hearing lugs 19 of hanger brackets 20, which latter have inturned lugs that overlap the lower flanges of the main beam 14, as best shown in Figs.

8 and 9.

The flanges 18 are extended to form channeled sockets 21 that receive short top flanges 22 formed on the adjacent ends of so-called beam tips or beam extension sections 23, which, in their main cross-seetion, correspond to the co-operating supplemental beams 16. These beam tips 23 are provided near their inner ends with short horizontal flanges 24,which,like the flanges 18, rest upon hearing lugs 19 of beam hangers 20*, which latter have inturned lugs that overlap the lower flanges of the main beam .15. As an important feature, these beam tips 23, inward of or beyond the beam Q eaaeea .15, have upwardly curved block-supporting portions formed by upwardly curving the lower flanges of said beam tips 23, as shown at 23. In some. instances, the parts herein designated as the beam tips 23 might be integral with the corresponding supplemental beams 16.

The main body of the double suspension arch illustrated is made up chiefly of upper or hanger blocks 25 andlower or underfacing blocks 26. The hanger blocks 25 have reversely projecting flanges both at top and bottom. The upper flanges of said blocks 25 are arranged to fit within the channels formed by the adjacent beams 16 and 23 and rest upon the lower flanges thereof. The lower or underfacing blocks 26, at their upper portions, are made T-shaped in cross-section, thereby forming upper flanges that work in the channels of the blocks 25 and rest upon the lower flanges of the latter. Said blocks 25 and 26 are, of course, assembled in close contact.

For an important purpose, the arch blocks 25 and 26 that are hung on the curved flanges 23 correspond in cross-section, transversely of the supporting beams, to the blocks 25 and 26, but, in their sections in the vertical plane of the beams, are made flaring or wedge-shaped so that they produce a radial or upwardly curved inner end to th arch, extending through approximately ninety degrees or from a vertical plane to a horizontal plane radiating approximately from the lower portion of the beam 15. This gives a rounded or radial formation at the inner end of the arch, which very ciliciently and gradually joins-the arch to the apron wall presently to be described.

This apron wall, see Figs. 8 and 9, is supported independently of the arch and preferably as follows: The numeral 27 indicates a heavy transverse wall-supporting I-beam, the ends of which will be suitably anchored in the side walls of the furnace, which beam extends inward of and above the beam 15. A plurality of laterally spaced shelf-supporting brackets or heads 28 are slidably mounted on the lower flanges of the beam 27 and are formed with slots that receive the front ends of projecting wall-supporting shelves or plates 29. The apron wall, which extends above the beam 27, in its main portion is built directly upon said beam 27. As shown. high refractory foundation blocks 30 are laid directly upon the upper flange of the beam 27 and fire bricks 31 are built upon the said blocks 30. Fire bricks 32 are built upon the shelves 29 and fill the space between the same and the bottoms of the base blocks 30. Fire bricks 33 are built into the space between the horizontal face of the uppermost blocks 26 and the shelves 29 and lowermost fire bricks 32. Fig. 9 illustrates the fact that the apron wall, except for the fire bricks is supported by the beam 27, in partdirectly by said beam and in part indirectly through the shelves 29.

Fig. 9 illustrates how the [ire bricks 33 may be removed without disturbing the apron wall proper. thereby permitting clear-- ance for removal and application of archforming blocks 25, 26, 25 and 26 Figs. 8 and 9 show how the radially disposed blocks 25 and 26 extend the fire arch from a horizontal to a vertical plane and cause the same to join on the arc of a circle with the apron wall, so that the flames will be permitted to make a gradual uniform upward travel.

Directing attention now to the front or stoker end of the fire arch structure, as best shown in Figs. 1 to 5. inclusive, the numeral 3% indicates the vertically movable stokcr gate, which may be of the usual construction and operated in the customary way and is arranged for movement adjacent to the socalled curtain wall that depends at the front or outer end of the fire arch. This curtain wall, as will presently appear, is supported independently of the arch proper, being, as shown, hung from a pair of transverse ll-beams 35, the ends of which will be supported by the side walls of the furnace.

This curtain wall and its suspendingmeans involve important novel features which are pr ferably embodied in the following structure.

The numeral 36 indicates coupling brackets having upwardly and inwardly turned lugs forming a top channel adapting them to slid-ably interlockwith the lower flanges of the beams 35. In their under sides, these coupling blocks or heads 36 have T-shaped grooves extended longitudinally of the arch and are adapted to receive the "IT-shaped upper end flanges of depending hanger brackets or skeleton-like plates 37, that are thus laterally spaced below and longitudinally of the beams 85. At their lower ends, the hanger brackets 87 are formed with T- shaped grooves that receive the T-shaped upper end flanges 38 of supplemental hanger brackets 38, and just above their lower ends said brackets 37 are formed at their opposite sides with channels 39 that receive the edges 1 of plate-like supporting shelves 40. The upper portion of this apron wall is made up of fire bricks 11 built upon the shelves 4t) and supported thereby. The upper bricks 41 are, of course, built up against the front or outer end of the fire arch.

Below the plane of the shelves 40, the supplemental hanger brackets 38 are formed with oppositely projecting flanges 42 that are curved on the arc of a circle and extend from a horizontal to a vertical plane or through approximately ninety degrees. At the lower extremities of the flanges 42, the supplemental brackets 38 are formed with vertical stop flanges 44 that are aligned lit] Y vertically with flanges 45 on the outer edges of the hanger brackets 37. Spaced inward from the flanges 44 and 45, respectively, the

brackets 38 and 37 are provided with vertically aligned flanges 46 and 47. Flanges or ribs 45 and 47, and 44 and 46, respectively, are cross-connected at their lower ends so that they form channels thatrece-ive and support the bricks 45 and 44, respectively, of the upper and lower portions of an insulating back wall.

Slidably hung on the curved flanges 42 are diverging and radially disposed blocks 25 that correspond to the blocks 25, and interlock with said blocks 25 are outwardly flaring radially disposed segmental blocks 26 that correspond to the blocks 26 above described. These blocks 25 and 26 form a ninety degree curve extended downward from the curtain wall to a vertical plane adjacent to the stoker gate 34.

lln the modified structure illustrated in Figs. 10, ll and 12, the radial block structure at the lower end of the curtain wall is not employed, but the lower front exposed blocks 26 are simply rounded off to turn the lower corner of the arch. lln this structure, the hanger blocks 37* have flanged upper edges slid into the ll-shaped channels oi coupling blocks or brackets 36 which, in turn, are slidably hung on a single cross beam 35 The extreme lower ends oi the hanger brackets 37 are formed with T- shaped channels in which the flanged upper edges of supplemental hanger brackets 38, are slid into interlocking engagement," The upper flanges of the blocks 25 are rested on the lower flanges oi the brackets 38'. As preferably constructed, the hanger brackets 37 are termed with ribs 48 and with preitorations 49.

The ribs 48 serve to space apart the adjacent wall-forming blocks, thereby leaving air passages for the circulation olt air between the blocks and through the perforations 49'. Such circulation of air, of course, assists in keeping down the temperature of the metallic hangers. Just above their.

channeled lower edges, the hanger brackets 37 are formed with channels 50 that receive and detachably hold shelf-forming plates 51 on. which the fire bricks 52 of the curtain wall are built up. A horizontal row of fire bricks 53 is laid on top of the underlying blocks 25* to fill in the space between the same and the projecting lower layer of the brickwork 52.

Directing attention again particularly to Figs. 1 to 4, inclusive, it will now be clearly seen that the curtain wall is supported independently of the fire arch proper and may be replaced without disturbing the latter. Moreover, the lower portion of the curtain wall and the lower portion of the back or insulating wall may be replaced without disturbing the upper portions of said walls, for the obvious reason that the upper portion of said curtain wall is supported by the shelves 40 and the upper portion of the insulating back wall .is supported by the channels in the main sections 37 of the hanger brackets. It certain of the radial blocks 25 or 26 are burned awayand require replacement, it is only necessary to remove certain of the wall bricks 41 that are below the shelves 40*, thereby permitting the damaged radial blocks to be slid upward and out of position and new blocks to be replaced. If the lower sections 42 or the hanger brackets should be burned, they may he slid from position and new substitute hanger blocks 42 substituted therefor, and this, of course, can all be done without disturbing the upper portion of the curtain wall and, of course, without removing the main hanger brackets 37. It the latter, however, should be damaged, they may be replaced by sliding the same out of the coupling blocks or heads 36' and sliding in position new substitute hanger brackets. replacements an extremely simple matter, capable of being accomplished at small cost.

Directing attention. again to Figs. 8 and 9, it is evident that it any of the radial blocks 25 or 26 or any of the main blocks 25 and 26 require replacement, this may be done without disturbin the main body of the apron wall, simply n removing certain of the tire bricks 33, as shown in Fig. 9, which, as is evident, permits tree sliding of the arch blocks from and to working positions on their supporting beams. This, also as is evident, makes repairs of the arch an easy matter, capable of being quickly performed at small cost.

Directing attention again particularly to Figs. 5, 6, 10 and 12, it will be noted that the T-shaped slots in the lower ends oil the hanger brackets 37 and 37* are closed at the backs of the brackets so that the detachable supplemental sections will be stopped in hit This, as is evident, makes lltltl llltll positions properly aligning with the main brackets. Also, it will be noted, (see particularly Figs. 5 and 6), that the depending flat ends of the detachable bracket sections 38 afford stops against which the lowermost bricks of the radial lower ,portion of the curtain wall will be stopped.

What I claim is:

1. The combination with a fire arch, of a beam supported independently of said arch and extended above the inner extremity of said arch, wall-supporting brackets mounted on said beam, shelves mounted on said brackets, an apron wall built on said beam and shelves, and filler blocks filling the space between said arch and shelves.-

2. The structure defined in claim 1' in locked to said beams and said shelves, are detachably applied to said brackets.

3. A fire arch structure comprising a supporting beam, brackets hung from sai beam, and a curtain wall supported by said brackets below said beam, said brackets having projecting shelves that support the upper portion of said curtain wall and having below said brackets detachable bracket sections that support the lower portion of said curtain wall.

4. The combination with an overhead support, of laterally spaced hanger brackets dending from said support and provided with detachable lower end sections and with shelves, and a curtain wall, the upper portion of which is supported by said shelves and the lower portion of which is independently supported by the detachable lower end sections of said brackets.

5. A fire arch structure comprising an overhead supporting beam, coupling heads slidably interlocked with said beam, laterally spaced hanger brackets slidably interlocked to said coupling heads, and a masonry curtain wall supported by said brackets.

6. The structure defined in claim 5 in which said brackets are provided with shelves that support the upper portion of said curtain wall.

7. The structure defined in claim 5 in which said brackets are provided with detachable lower end sections slidably interlocked thereto.

8. llhe structure defined in claim 5 in which said brackets are provided with detachable lower end sections slidably interlocked thereto, said lower end sections having curved flanges with which wedge-shaped blocks of the curtain wall are slidably interlocked.

in testimony whereof I afiix my signature.

CLARENGE A. STRACHOTA 

